Future Shaping: How Leaders Can Take Charge in an Uncertain World
To paraphrase the first sentence in the introduction to Niamh O’Keeffe’s forthcoming book, “In a world of distractions and overwhelm, why would you choose to spend a few minutes of your precious time reading this article?” This article is from the introduction to Future Shaper: How Leaders Can Take Charge in an Uncertain World. In fact, it IS the introduction. In the coming months we’ll be running excerpts from the book. Try this for starters to determine if her approach to leadership is for you.
In a world of distractions and overwhelm, why would you choose to spend a few hours of your precious time reading this book? The most compelling reasons I can give you are that this book will improve your leadership intelligence, help you succeed in your leadership career, and empower you to shape a better future for everyone. If you are ambitious and feel that you have unfulfilled leadership potential, then read on.
In past times, leaders were the ones who had maximum access to information and were better able to predict what would happen next. Employees had a reassuring (even if false) sense of security that top executives knew how to solve all the difficult challenges and problems. There was sufficient stability to develop 10-year plans, and more clarity on exactly how to steer the business. Until recently, leadership has been about setting out a definitive strategy and instructing people on how to execute it.
No one would buy that approach any more. I don’t have to tell you that we are living in interesting times! The world has changed, unpredictability is the new predictability, and traditional rules for how to lead do not apply any more. The type of leadership intelligence required is no longer limited to strategic capability, emotional intelligence, and good communication skills — instead it is about a further evolution to a whole new set of leadership intelligence fundamentals and an upskilling in the new leadership traits required for the types of challenges and uncertainty we face now.
This book is my attempt at the new leadership intelligence playbook needed to deal with all the threats and opportunities ahead. Leadership theory needs to catch up and, for me, the central point is empowerment. How can you be empowered to take charge in an uncertain world? Although it sounds counterintuitive, I believe you have more control and more choice than you realize. This empowered mindset is what sets apart the leader from the follower, and indeed what sets apart the leader from the machine. This book is about gaining better leadership intelligence in an increasingly artificial intelligence world.
I use the term “future shaping” to describe the type of leadership needed now. The future shaper leader is prepared to face up to the challenges of today and decide what to do about them to create a better tomorrow. This book offers a blueprint to help guide leaders on how to take back control, proactively future shape, and achieve great success.
Behind complex narratives on the future outlook of the global economy lies a more honest diagnosis of the current state of play — which is that we are experiencing a crisis of leadership. And, as in any crisis, only the most adaptable will survive. In this book I decode what it will take to survive and thrive as a great leader now, and I offer you inspiration and insight on how to skill up for the journey ahead.
In brief summary, the future shaping leadership intelligence playbook builds your capacity to:
- Step back, to get perspective and see the bigger picture
- Realize you have the power to shape the future
- Stop feeling afraid of unknowns and “wild card” events
- Empower yourself to lead; don’t wait for permission or the right job title
- Apply a new leadership intelligence framework and cultivate more relevant traits
The future shaping leadership intelligence framework will steer you on how to shape the future you desire:
- Establish your preferred future outcome
- Convince people to follow you
- Be resilient and stay the course
- Nurture successful teams and deliver great results
- Power up your network and multiply your impact
To support your application of the future shaper framework, I invite you to cultivate a new set of essential leadership traits. I help you to become more fearless, unconventional, tenacious, unifying, resilient, empathetic; super-adaptable, hard-working, authentic, proactive, energizing, resourceful.
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